Number 32- Make Room! Make Room!- Harry Harrison

 

When this was chosen for a book group, I was very excited. I'd not read a Harry Harrison since a few of the Stainless Steel Rat books several decades ago.  Plus, when I looked for it on google, I discovered that this was the basis for the film Soylent Green.

As a result, I went into this book expecting a light hearted science fiction adventure with a dark twist in the tail.

That is not what you get from this book in the slightest. This is a grim dystopian novel set in a massively overcrowded future version of New York.  The far distant future in question here being 1999.

Andy Rush is a New York detective. When he's asked to solve the murder of a local criminal with high up connections, he finds himself caught in a whole heap of trouble- although he does has the benefit of a fresh love life in the shape of the victim's ex-mistress.

The world building in this book is brilliant.  It all feels so grimy and horrible that you find yourself wanting to take a shower after some sequences. 

The story seems to take second place to the world-building as there's not really that much happening in relation to the case. In a city this crowded, with 50s style technology that isn't up to even supplying water to the whole population, detective work won't go far. 

In alternating chapters we follow Andy and the killer as they live their lives over several months leading to the dawn of the new century. It's not a cat and mouse situation, literally just their lives in different parts of the city. That's not to say it's not interesting.  The writing is top notch. The world Harrison creates is a character in its own right and the novel is never even close to boring.

As predictive dystopias go, it missed the mark by a huge distance, thank goodness.  It failed to take into account that technology would improve. This is a nightmare vision of a world that could have been. It doesn't have the famous twist from the film, and I think I only recall one or two events from the book being used in the film although it's been a long long time). 

If there are any flaws, I would say that the repeated lectures from Andy's flatmate about reproductive control near the end of the book seem to come from nowhere, and the second time he rants on the subject could almost be a cut and paste from his rant 5 pages or so earlier as it covered all the same points again, just with the character talking to someone else. 

Despite being entirely different to what I expected- a bleak dystopian warning about overpopulation- rather than a light and fluffy adventure with a twist- I still really enjoyed this. And just check out that gorgeous cover art. They don't make them like that any more.

Number 31- At Risk- Stella Rimington

 

As you can see from that cover quote, this is the debut novel by Stella Rimington, the former head of M15. Stunning is a matter of debate.

Liz Carlyle is an intelligence officer in MI5. When a report says that an attack is about to be carried out by an "Invisible" operative, an ethnic native terrorist who therefore can pass through borders unchecked and access our institutions freely, the stage is set for a race against time.

This was published in 2003 (therefore probably written in 2001/2, in the wake of 9/11, which probably explains the complete lack of any balance in the narrative about Muslims. There are three in the story, the non-evil one is sidelined very early on and forgotten about, and the other two are sociopaths dead set on killing innocents. There could have been the use of the word extremist, but I don't recall it in the book. that would at least have served to tell us that these characters are at the fringe of their group and not representative of the faith. 

Anyhoo... rant over.

It's a slow burn of a story, with little action for the first two hundred pages or so. When one of the killers commits a murder in self defense after paying to be smuggled in, our plucky Liz is on the case, sleuthing around and finding clues to the exact nature of the treat to the country.

It all plays out rather sedately, which is probably more realistic than an all action shoot-em-up type thriller, but it doesn't make for a compulsive read until about 100 pages from the end. Liz does a lot of ringing around and asking people to find information for her, or receiving a fresh message from one of her sources rather than actively finding out for herself. The section with the passenger manifest would have been better if she'd done it herself instead of trusting subordinates to check it for her for example.

The prose is unremarkable, but not actively bad.  The book is never less than readable.  I don't personally think it ever reached the heights of "stunning" as stated on the cover. It's worth reading. Given who she is, it's probably a better insight into how these things actually work. It's a shame that it does highlight why these types of books do embellish detail.

6/10 if I'm feeling generous.